The present invention pertains to collecting and transporting urine away from the body of a person or an animal during various circumstances.
A system for transporting urine voided from a person's body is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,166 to Kuntz. This system includes a pad containing a core of moisture-absorbent material, a urine collection vessel, a first tube for transporting urine from the pad to the urine collection vessel, a vacuum pump and a second tube that couples the vacuum pump to the urine collection vessel. The pad is configured to make direct contact with the region of a female person's body surrounding the urethral opening and facilitates the positioning of the pad to the body surface so that urine that is expelled by the person is passed into and absorbed by the moisture-absorbent material. The moisture-absorbent material is formed with a central bore extending longitudinally of the pad along the major extent thereof. A perforated end portion of a tube is inserted into the bore.
Upon being energized, the vacuum pump applies a slight vacuum via the first and second tubes to the bore of the pad so that as the person voids, urine is drawn through openings in an outer cover layer of the pad into the moisture-absorbent material core of the pad within which the urine moves to the central bore of the pad by capillary action and by the effect of the pressure differential that exists between the inside and the outside of the pad. Once the urine reaches the central bore, the urine is drawn into the first tube through the perforation in the first tube and thence transported to the collection vessel. In one embodiment, the collection vessel and the manner in which the tubes are coupled thereto are such that urine from the urine collection vessel is not drawn into the second tube; and the urine drawn through the first tube is left in the urine collection vessel. The outer cover layer of the pad is of hydrophobic nature so that the feeling of wetness is reduced shortly after voiding has occurred.
Other systems and methods for collecting and transporting urine away from a person's body are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,610,675 to Triunfol; 5,678,564 to Lawrence et al.; 5,894,608 to Birbara; 6,849,065 to Schmidt et al.; 7,018,366 to Easter and 7,220,250 to Suzuki et al.